The original Lucille's station was built in 1927. Lucille and Carl Hamons purchased the station and motor courts on Route 66 near Hydro, Oklahoma, in 1941. The station was a family business, with the living quarters and the business in the same building. Construction of the interstate highways dealt a crushing economic blow to towns and businesses that depended on highway travelers, and after the State of Oklahoma fenced the highway to block access to the interstate except at designated locations, the Hamons family struggled with whether to remain open. In 1992, on the sixty-sixth anniversary of Route 66, the Oklahoma Route 66 Association gave Lucille Hamons special recognition for her 51 years in business. In July 1997, her family organized a book signing party to announce that she had become the author of her biography, Lucille: Mother of the Mother Road. In the spring of 1998, the Oklahoma Historical Society voted to place the Hamons station on the National Register of Historic Places. By September 1999, Lucille had received the highest award in her state when the Oklahoma Route 66 Association inducted her into the Oklahoma Route 66 Hall of Fame, and her award plaque was displayed with those of other outstanding Oklahomans at the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum in Clinton. Lucille Arthurs Hamons died at her home in August 2000 after remaining in her home and business along Route 66 for 59 years. She welcomed the many visitors who traveled Route 66 to her doorway and never tired of sharing her stories on America's Main Street.